JOEP PATERNOSTRE,
founder and CEO of
Bloomaker, a Costco
supplier, has more than
just a green thumb. He
has a green heart.

Paternostre hasturned his passion for;owers into Bloomaker,a blossoming floral business that is theleading producer and wholesale supplier ofhydroponically grown flowers in NorthAmerica. “We started a complete new ven-ture with this new idea,” he says. “Andthat’s where our American success storystarted. They called it the American dream.”Paternostre started in the ;ower bulbindustry in Normandy, France, in ;;;;. In;;;;, he founded his own business produc-ing packed ;ower bulbs in the Netherlands.Between ;;;; and ;;;;, he created, pur-chased and consolidated several bulb busi-nesses into one company. In ;;;;, hemerged the business with another bulbcompany in the Netherlands.

In ;;;;, Paternostre and his wife,
Lilian, decided to venture into the North
American market and spent a year traveling by RV throughout the U.S. and Canada
to find the right location and environment to start a ;oral business. They eventually decided on Waynesboro, Virginia, but
during that year, inspired by changes in
the industry, they developed a system to
grow bulb ;owers, such as tulips and hyacinths, hydroponically. From December
through May, in a ;-acre greenhouse, they
can produce as much as a ;;-acre nursery,
Paternostre notes.

“If you look at the potted tulips, they
need constant water. They need to be
watered in the stores. That is why very
often you see one tulip grow, and another
tulip is lagging, and another tulip falls
over,” he says.

Bloomaker’s tulips, in contrast, aremore “consumer friendly” because theygrow uniformly and consistently—thanks to plenty of light and water, whichis continuously fed in the roots.

Bloomaker begins the process by
importing bulbs from the Netherlands.
The bulbs are chilled at a low temperature
for ;; weeks. Next they are planted on patented pin trays and water is added. It takes
one to two weeks for the rooting to ;nish,
and then they are crated in the greenhouse
with lots of light to help them develop
short stems.

“We don’t want to have them stretched
too tall; whereas, if you look at cut ;owers,
they actually put them in greenhouses, but
they make it sort of dark because they want
them to stretch. They want them to be very
tall, and for us that [is not the case] because
[if] they are short, they’re also stronger.
The stems are thicker and they just look
much better,” Paternostre says.

When the tulips begin showing a bit of
color at the tip, they are placed in display
vases and shipped out to Bloomaker’s customers. This process allows the company
to produce about ;.; million vases every
year in only a few months, and the tulips
last much longer than conventional tulips,
he says. C

“Working with Costco for us has always
been a huge pleasure. There is not one
other business model that I know that is
so successful as Costco, as well for the
employees as for their [members], and it
was always an example for us to work that
way.”—Joep Paternostre, founder and CEO
of Bloomaker

Beautiful blooms

Left: Bloomaker
;owering tulip
bulbs in hurricane vases.

Here: Bloomaker
head grower
Jelte Schaap in
the greenhouse.

s
grow bulb ;owers, such as tulips and hyacinths, hydroponically. From December